Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize Edition

 This is part of my ongoing series on using Awards Lists as a RA tool. Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool.

It is Election Day here in America. We could all use some levity-- AFTER VOTING. In fact, if you live in America and are reading this before you voted, please stop reading and go vote. I voted last week myself.

Okay back to today and needing some levity, I saved this post for today, the short list of books nominated for the Wodehouse Prize. From their about page:

The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction is the UK’s longest running prize for comic fiction and is designed to highlight the funniest novel of the past twelve months, which best evokes the Wodehouse spirit of witty characters and perfectly timed comic prose. The prize was launched in 2000 on the 25th anniversary of the death of P.G. Wodehouse and 2025 marked the 25th anniversary of the award. Each year, the prize celebrates the novels that have genuinely made people laugh. Publishers are advised to focus their submissions for 2026 on books that really made them laugh out loud, in order to give them the best chance of being shortlisted.

These are books that are of high literary merit and are also funny. Books can be both and this prize has made that point crystal clear for many years. In fact, the entire backlist of nominated titles and winners going back to 2000 are cataloged here. 

The short list and juror statement about each book form this year's list are here and below:

A Good Person by Kirsten King – Published by Fleet (Little, Brown)

Lillian is having a great time with Henry: he's charming, well-educated, and exactly the kind of guy she'd like to end up with. That is, until she stays the night at his flat and they end up in a huge argument. Furious, Lillian seeks revenge on Henry by performing a drunken YouTube hex on him. But then Henry actually ends up dead. Desperate to control the narrative, clear her name, and assume her rightful place as Henry's mourning girlfriend, Lillian's pursuit of the truth will throw her into a dangerous tailspin, which just may just upend her life for good.

Stephanie Merritt said: “A wickedly funny reinvention of the revenge-plot comedy, with a gloriously deluded narrator. As you'd expect from a screenwriter, Kirsten King has a killer ear for dialogue, and so many of her lines made me laugh out loud.”

 Black Bag by Luke Kennard – Published by John Murray Press

A penniless and out-of-work actor picks up a job working for Dr Blend, a university professor who is conducting a psychological experiment. How will Dr Blend's students react to someone zipped into on oversized bag, sitting at the back of the lecture hall over a series of autumn term lectures? The role, eagerly accepted, soon has unexpected consequences. A professor of post-humanism develops research questions of her own, in particular if you can love someone secreted away inside a black bag. Meanwhile, the actor's childhood friend and flatmate forms a vision for monetising this new situation… A warped campus novel, Black Bag is an investigation into the crisis of masculinity and an off-kilter love story.

Tristram Fane Saunders said: “Luke Kennard's utterly original campus novel nudges at serious questions - about art, authenticity and modern masculinity - but always with a light touch. It's a novel that achieves a marvellous balance between the mundane and the surreal.”

How To Lose a Lord in Ten Days by Sophie Irwin – Published by HarperCollins

He wants a wife. She wants to be jilted. This is war. Rich, handsome and titled, Lord Ashford has every lady in England longing for his hand in marriage. Everyone, that is, except Miss Lydia Hanworth – the only young woman Ashford wishes to marry. Pressured into accepting Ashford’s proposal, the announcement must be kept secret for ten days. Can Lydia free herself from her obligations before the engagement is publicly announced, without ruining her reputation? You can achieve an awful lot in ten days, after all…

Sophie Ratcliffe said: “Packed full of dukes, dowries, and double-edged wit, Irwin’s Regency spin on the classic romcom charmed the judges with its sly humour and period detail.”

Motherfaker by Anna Brook-Mitchell – Published by Macmillan

Barri Brown is a respected teacher and an upstanding citizen of Guernsey. She’s also down for a bit of law-breaking… At thirty-five, Barri spends her time slaving away as a teacher, getting passed over for promotions and constantly covering for colleagues with kids. When her husband vanishes – along with her savings – it’s the final straw. And so, she hatches a wild plan: fake a pregnancy and use the paid maternity leave to start over somewhere new. With seven foam bumps, a wardrobe full of smock dresses and a great pregnancy heist underway, all Barri has to do is blag it until she can disappear for good – without getting caught and being sent to prison for fraud. How hard could it be?

Tristram Fane Saunders said: “Could you fake a pregnancy just for the paid maternity leave – and get away with it? This outrageous, harebrained scheme is an irresistible premise for Anna Brook-Mitchell's farce, in which one lie soon leads into another. It's a warm, bighearted farce with a heroine you can't help rooting for.”

Offseason by Avigayl Sharp - Published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson (Orion Publishing Group)

In Offseason, the fiercely observant but self-deluded narrator finds herself teaching at an all-girls boarding school in a remote coastal town. In between manic lectures that veer from Charles Dickens's Bleak House to the childhood maltreatment of her beloved Iosif Stalin and the generational legacy of the Holocaust, she implicates everyone she meets in her quest to pin down where exactly her own life went wrong.

Stephanie Merritt said: “'Wry, deadpan, absurdist: Offseason perfectly skewers the self-absorption of contemporary life (and fiction) and finds comedy in the bleakest situations. It feels fresh, original and multi-layered; I loved its strangeness and dark humour.”

We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad – Published by Scribner UK (Simon & Schuster)

This is the highly anticipated follow up to the viral sensation Bunny. When We Love You, Bunny opens, Samantha Heather Mackey has just published her first novel to critical acclaim. But at a New England stop on her book tour, her one-time frenemies, furious at the way they’ve been portrayed, kidnap her. Now a captive audience, it’s her (and our) turn to hear the Bunnies’ side of the story. One by one, they take turns holding the axe, and recount the birth throes of their unholy alliance, their discovery of their unusual creative powers ― and the phantasmagorical adventure of conjuring their first creation.

James Naughtie said: “Mona Awad's horror-satire crackles with the same edgy pulse that made her first Bunny novel a phenomenon - exploring ruthlessly the social mayhem of a group of privileged Ivy League student women. Funny, bloody and irresistible.” 

Click through for more information about the award and this year's jurors.

A book that can make you laugh out loud is an evergreen choice. Make sure you have the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize and the archive of past winners bookmarked as a great resource to help readers find a book that is well constructed and will make them laugh. Especially during stressful times, humor is a great option.

While there are a lot of books to choose from, you can add to this resource and make it more locally focused by using the prize as a conversation starter to display option.

Your question for your community-- What is a book that made you laugh out loud?

Click here for more on how to turn a conversation starter into a display. In the mean time, get those Wodehouse Prize books-- short lister, winners, from past and present-- out on display. It's a stressful time in America right now and many could use a chuckle from their books.

Conversation Starter to Display Monthly Question: What Books Are You Most Grateful For?

This is part of a monthly series of conversation starters which can be made into evergreen displays that I first proposed here (with 12 examples that could last you full a year). You can expect a new conversation starter on the first week day of a new month. Use the newest one for the next month, or access the long backlist of these ideas anytime by using this link. 

Back in June, I wrote about how to use conversation starters to create evergreen displays (see link above), and in that post I promised to give you one conversation starter a month at the start of each month. I also make it clear in that post that these displays can be small. 3-5 books that you keep rotating. You can even use this link to make it into a scavenger hunt of small displays all over the library.

This month question is: What books are you most grateful for?

While this question, coming during the month when we all celebrate Thanksgiving is not a shocker, asking it can help you now -- to get a display up right away of the season, a display that will be diverse and inclusive because the answer is not tied to any one genre or age level AND it will help you understand what books in your collection hold the most meaning for your readers.

What books are you most grateful for?-- This is a question that everyone who is a reader can answer quickly; much more quickly than when you ask people to share a favorite book or the last good book they read. This is a question that has an immediate and visceral response. It is also a question that changes. I you ask someone this question today, you will get a few titles, but then ask them 6 months later and you will have a few more. 

And the answers are evergreen by default because people always need a pick me up from a good read and finding a book others are grateful for is an excellent recommendation 

Start by asking staff, What books are you most grateful for?- at the very least. Do it through an electronic form so that the answers get filed into a spreadsheet. And then do some searching.

The title of this display you make is the question itself: What books are you most grateful for?

Why? Because this is interactive. Your display is a conversation. It will draw patrons toward it, their interest piqued. You are asking them a question and presenting some answers, but they will have their own and they will want to tell you! It will invite everyone to participate. 

Now, you can follow my more elaborate suggestion on how to ask every patron to help answer this question and add titles to your spreadsheet of options, OR you can start smaller. Put up a white board or bulletin board near the display and allow people to add titles. You can pull them as needed or just leave them there, answers to your question, a way to SHOW your community that you care about their answers. You should be adding these to the spreadsheet overtime as well.

That spreadsheet is key here because it is a way for the library to KNOW what books matter to their patrons. Circulation statistics just show us what checks out. It doesn't tell us if they were enjoyed, let alone a book so treasured the patron recommends it to everyone they know. Asking this question makes an excellent, interactive, and, quite frankly, easy display, BUT it also gives us valuable collection development data.

First, if the books people are recommending to answer this question and their circ stats are not great, this lets us know that the book should stay in our collection. It alerts us that it is a patron fav and we now know to get it on display where another reader will almost certainly give it a try (with a title of a display like that, it is sure to circ now)

Second, this conversation starter allows us to see what books matter to our readers and we can pass that information on to those who buy the books for our collections so that they can look for similar titles. As someone who bought for the fiction collection, I would have loved to have this information. I knew my key patrons and bought books I knew they would like, but this question would have reach more people. Many who never stop to talk to use will answer. You will get a much wider view of the books your readers love and crave. That data is collection development gold!

You can search out readalikes that you have, and add more. All of that will lead to small displays, in the library or online, ones you can title, "These are the books our community is grateful for....now try these similar options." Those can be online and in small spaces. 

You are asking a question, getting responses to fill a display, gathering valuable collection development data, and then creating more displays. All by asking one question: What books are you most grateful for?

You have nothing to lose here. You and your patrons win the second you ask the question.

Back next month with anther question, but as always, use the link at the top of this post for many more questions you can use today, tomorrow, or in a few months. Just start asking your patrons questions so you can see what really sticks with them. Your displays will be easier to build, more inviting, and you will have a better sense of what other titles need to be added to your collections.

HWA Announces Summer Scares Reading Program 2027 Spokesperson and Timeline

HWA Announces Summer Scares Reading Program 2027 Spokesperson and Timeline

The Horror Writers Association (HWA), in partnership with Booklist, Book Riot, iREAD, and NoveList®, a division of EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO), is proud to announce the ninth annual Summer Scares, a reading program that provides libraries and schools with an annual list of recommended horror titles for adult, young adult (teen), and middle-grade readers. 

Summer Scares is proud to announce the 2027 spokesperson, USA Today Bestselling middle-grade author, Ally Russell:

“As a wee ghoul, my best friend and I would trade scary books like currency. We didn’t get to see each other often, but I lived for those weekend sleepovers, because I knew we would spend a lot of our time together talking about scary books. The last book I remember trading was Give Yourself Goosebumps: Night in Werewolf Woods by R.L. Stine. I don’t remember why we stopped trading; I suspect we simply outgrew the practice. Sharing scares with a friend and fellow reader at that young and pivotal age turned me into a lifelong reader. Reading doesn’t have to be a solitary act, and the Summer Scares program understands that. As a young aspiring author, books were my creative writing teachers. Books taught me how to spell and define words, develop plots, write dialogue, and most importantly, foster friendships. Today, I write horror books for young readers because I had books. With Summer Scares, I hope readers of all ages will feel invited to partake in the horror genre and find community in the sharing of scary stories.”

Russell, along with a committee of six library workers, will select three recommended fiction titles in each reading level, totaling nine Summer Scares selections. The program aims to encourage a conversation at libraries worldwide about the horror genre across all age levels and ultimately attract more adults, teens, and children interested in reading. Official Summer Scares designated authors will also make themselves available to public and school libraries.

The committee’s final selections will be announced on February 12, 2027. Russell, along with some of the selected authors, will kick off Summer Scares at the 10th Annual HWA Librarians’ Day (Friday, June 11, 2027) during StokerCon® 2027 at the Westin Pittsburgh. Click here for more information.

Additional content, including podcast appearances, free webinars with Booklist, and lists of suggested titles for further reading, will be made available by the committee and its partners beginning early in 2027 and continuing through the spring and summer. Of special note is the annual Summer Scares Programming Guide, overseen by HWA Libraries Co-Chair Konrad Stump.

“The 2027 guide, developed by the HWA Libraries team, is packed with everything library workers need to engage their communities with these great titles, including an iREAD partner title in each age group,” states Stump. “From ideas for author events, partner programs with University of Pittsburgh Library Systems, book discussion groups, and much more, this guide is the library worker’s roadmap to creating exciting and meaningful experiences for their patrons through Summer Scares that they can use as a jumping off point for future horror-themed programming.” 

The guide will be available beginning March 1, 2027, on the Summer Scares Resource page here.

To see past year’s Summer Scares titles, spokespeople, and programming guides, please visit the program archive here.

Keep your eyes peeled for more updates coming soon from Booklist, Book Riot, iREAD and NoveList®, as well as at the HWA’s website: www.horror.org and RA for All Horror. 

Questions? Reach out to HWA Libraries Co-Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump via email: libraries@horror.org.

Summer Scares 2027 Committee Members:

Ally Russell is the USA TODAY bestselling author of It Came from the Trees. Her other books include the Mystery James series, which was nominated for an Edgar Award and a Stoker Award, Down Came the Spiders, and Book of Outcasts (Wednesday). She grew up on a steady diet of Halloween parties, horror films, Unsolved Mysteries, and Goosebumps books. She has always loved scary stories, and got her MFA from Simmons University and, eventually, a job working in children’s publishing. She hails from Pittsburgh—ground zero for the zombie apocalypse. Ally lives with her husband and her black cats. She’s afraid of the woods, the dark, and heights. You can find her at @onedarkally on Instagram or allyrussellbooks.com. 

Becky Spratford is a Readers' Advisory Specialist in Illinois. She trains library staff all over the world on how to match books with readers through the local public library. She runs the critically acclaimed RA training blog RA for All, writes reviews for Booklist, and  has a horror review column for Library Journal. Becky is the author of three text books for library workers and the editor of the Bram Stoker Award winning Why I Love Horror [Saga Press, 2025]. Becky is currently serving as the Horror Writers Association’s Secretary and Co-Chair of their Libraries Committee.

Konrad Stump co-chairs HWA Libraries, including the Horror Writers Association’s summer reading program Summer Scares, and StokerCon Librarians’ Day, a full day of continuing education that connects authors and librarians and provides both with the necessary tools to engage communities with the horror genre. He also coordinates the Springfield-Greene County (MO) Library’s long-running Oh, the Horror! series, an annual celebration of the horror genre. His work has appeared in Library Journal, NoveList, Booklist, Library Trends, and has been featured in Book Club Reboot: 71 Creative Twists (ALA) and The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror, third edition (ALA).

Carolyn Ciesla is an academic library director in the Chicago suburbs. She previously provided spooky programming to patrons as a teen and reference librarian, and has reviewed horror titles for Booklist for several years. She also teaches horror to unsuspecting first-year university students. 

Kelly Jensen is a Senior Editor at Book Riot, the largest independent book website in North America. She covers all things young adult literature and has written about censorship for over 10 years. She is the author of three critically acclaimed and award-winning anthologies for young adults. In 2024, she was named a Library Journal Mover & Shaker for her anti-censorship work. She earned similar recognition for her work in 2022, when she was named a person of the year from Publishers Weekly and a Chicagoan of the Year by the Chicago Tribune. She has twice earned commendation from the American Association of School Librarians for her anti-censorship work. Prior to her work at Book Riot, Kelly was a public librarian for children, teens, and adults in several libraries in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. Horror is her jam.

Julia Smith is a senior editor at Booklist, where she works in the youth books department and harbors a deep love of middle-grade literature. Prior to her career at Booklist, she worked at an independent children's bookstore and in the Chicago Public Library system.

Yaika Sabat (MLS) worked in public libraries before joining NoveList as a Senior Readers’ Advisory Librarian, where she develops content to help library staff connect readers with books they’ll love. She is passionate about providing inclusive, reader-centered services; encouraging libraries to embrace horror; and, helping readers explore widely across genres and formats. While horror always takes her top genre spot, she enjoys trying other genres, loves graphic novels, and is an avid audiobook listener.

Attack of the Best Lists 2026: B&N

This post is part of my year-end "Attack of the Best Lists" coverage. To see every post in my "Attack of the Best Lists 2026" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can click here.

Barnes & Noble has released their Best Books 2026 portal , and they are covering a lot of bases with 17 categories including books for all ages, in every genre, fiction and nonfiction categories, in audio and ebooks, and Spanish.

From the portal landing page: 

The Best Books of 2026

Meet the Best Books of 2026. This year’s new releases took us across the universe and beyond, with stories of hope, inspiring kids’ tales, thrillers that kept us guessing, memoirs of love and loss, fascinating historical deep dives and much more. With our hand-picked assortment of reads, you’ll find something exceptional for every reader.

You can access all 17 categories here.

Of course B&N has more than one best list. The more the merrier in their eyes because ultimately they want to sell as many books as possible. And as the holidays and gift-giving opportunities approach, they want it to be as easy as possible to help you find the right books for your people.

While getting the most sales is the reason, it is nice to see the categories themselves and the books found within a continuing to be diverse and inclusive. They have categories for Best Audiobooks, Best Spanish Books for adults and kids, and multiple nonfiction categories. They are thinking about how people read and making sure they see a category that works for them, their friends, and their family.

And as a result, it works for us as we serve our readers.

Speaking of the ease at which the average reader can access enticing titles, keep a list of those B&N categories to use as display titles and conversation starters anytime of year.

You can make a display anytime of year with these categories as well especially if you use the backlist of best lists. So while at the end of a year you can use these categories as a way to ask patrons to weigh in on their best reads of the last year, you can also use these categories and the backlist "Best" options  to make genre or reading category displays anytime of year. 

Ask you patrons to help by using this link to see how to turn a conversation starter into a display. 

Access the backlist of Best titles with my attack of the best lists coverage from year to year. (Unfortunately, B&N has disabled their portal pages for past years.) 

Look for MANY more "Attack of the Best Lists" posts coming soon. 

Understanding How Our Readers Feel About AI

I have been on the record (and even have a tag for it)  that we need to "Just Say No to AI." I have written about this in response to a variety of RA related situations. 

Last week, Book Insights published their first survey gathering the thoughts of book buyers on the use of AI in books.

But before I break down the survey, I need to let you all know a little but more about Book Insights (the source of this info). From their About page:

Who buys books in the US? Nobody has asked properly in a decade. We're asking now.

bookinsights.ai is running Consumer Compass — the first comprehensive study of the US book buyer since before BookTok, Romantasy, and the rise of audio and AI. In field now, with results in November 2026. Alongside that, I work with publishers directly on getting more from the data they already have.

Consumer Compass: A syndicated study of 5,000 US book buyers. Who they are, how they find books, where they buy and more.

• AI discovery, measured directly — which tools people use to find books, and what they actually ask them

• Teenagers answering for themselves — not their parents answering for them

• Genre by genre — because "the American book buyer" is an aggeregate of very different people

Now back to what they found out about what book buyer think about AI in books in this, their first wave of results. 

One of their most interesting results is : 85% of US book buyers say a book should disclose if AI was used in writing it. Comfort with AI varies sharply by age - the demand for disclosure doesn’t.

I am concerned, but not surprised, about how many people are fine with AI as long as it is disclosed. While I myself and not fine with any AI in what I read, understanding where the general reading public lands on this issue is very important for us to know.

Click through to look at the preliminary results. Especially to the data break down by age. And remember, this is wave one. There is more data being compiled including:

• The overall makeup of the US book buyer - who they are, where they discover and buy books, how they spread their book buying across formats
• How categories look different - from who the buyer is to where they learn about new books, and what drives their purchase decisions
• How audio fits into the overall universe of book buying

Keep Book Insights bookmarked and handy. We need as many "insights" into our readers as possible, especially as we fight to educate them on what they need to "Just Say No to AI."

Reactor’s Doing a Podcast!: Introducing Read Receipts for All Your Speculative Fiction Needs

Well I am excited for this news and I will let Reactor share it themselves here and below. But sign up ASAP. Reactor is already one of our most trusted Speculative fiction resources for all media, and now you can get it in your ears.

Reactor’s Doing a Podcast! Introducing Read Receipts

A unique perspective on contemporary genre fiction — launching Oct 28th!

Hello, Reactor Readers!

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our first podcast, Read Receipts, a weekly show about speculative fiction, genre, and nerd culture. Hosted by Reactor’s Senior Books Editor Christina Orlando, Read Receipts will share episodes starting on Wednesday, October 28, covering the latest conversations about science fiction, fantasy, horror, and more.

The highlight of the show are our monthly author roundtable discussions—by gathering some of the best and brightest writers of contemporary SFF for a lively group discussion around a common theme, trope, or subgenre each month, Read Receipts will give listeners a unique perspective on contemporary genre fiction. We’ll also be doing themed book clubs, media recommendations with the Reactor staff, and more.

Upcoming episodes will cover such topics as: 

• Lady knights, sword lesbians, and gender in medieval-inspired fantasy 
• The resurgence of dystopian speculative fiction, and why it matters now
• Contemporary gothic horror, ghosts, and generational trauma from a non-Eurocentric perspective

“You, dear reader listener, are the lucky one here,” says Reactor Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Chris Lough. “Now you get to hear the funniest and most galaxy-brained takes on genre literature that were—until now!—locked away in Reactor’s Slack threads and editorial meetings. Christina Orlando is very good at this and I am running out of ways to say that I’m excited to see this podcast finally out in the world.” 

Read Receipts host Christina Orlando continues, “Talking about books with friends is one of life’s greatest joys, and that’s exactly what I wanted this podcast to feel like. And fortunately all my friends are nerds, writers, and critics, so we can really dig into it together. With the help of audio producer Gaby Iori, who has a background in book publishing, Read Receipts feels like a natural extension of what Reactor does best—being enthusiastic and deeply, wonderfully weird about SFF.” 

Look for Read Receipts on October 28

Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Reactor

Note: The Apple Podcast link is running behind, apparently! We’ll update as soon as we get the link.

Attack of the Best List 2026: Publishers Weekly Best Books Portal

This post is part of my year-end "Attack of the Best Lists" coverage. To see every post in my "Attack of the Best Lists 2026" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can click here.

Once the Publishers Weekly best books portal goes live it is on! They are going to come fast and furious from here on at. Not only is PW's one of the first best lists of the year, but it  is also the most useful of the bunch. 

Look at those screen shots [above]. From the Best Books of 2026 page. On the PW Best Books portal you can access by all ages and genres as well as single click access going back to 2010! And it includes their Summer Reads picks and overall BEST titles all in one place. 

This inclusion of Summer Reads access is key because often, those books are better general read options but they don't always make the year end lists. This allows the PW Best Book portal to be a one stop shop for a wider range of "best" options fit for even more readers.

Nowhere will you find a resource that puts this many "sure bet" options in front of you so easily. There are literally hundreds of titles here, at your fingertips, both old and new, that you can confidently suggest to readers immediately. Readers who read across all age levels [down to infants] and in just about every genre. 

And, since every title is annotated, you also have a book talk [or annotation] for each title right there. You don't have to have read the book to suggest it. [Reminder: Use the Words of Others.]

I could keep gushing about how much I love this resource but I would rather you played around with it yourself.

Making this year's list even better (in my eyes), is that there is a horror book in their overall top 10. Not their genre lists...overall. And it is a title I gave a star to in Booklist-- Public Access Afterworld by Jane Schoenbrun.

[They also have another book I loved, Mazywood by Tananarive Due in their best SF/F/H list]

But back to the annual PW Best Books Portal in general and not just this year in particular. Sure, we are all excited about 2026, but don't forget to look back at older titles, read the annotations, check genres you love and those you don't normally read-- especially those you don't normally read because you will learn much about the current state of that genre [trends, popular authors] this year and going back a few years. You can get access to some great sure bet suggestions AND brush up on your genre knowledge all in one place.

Spend some time really getting to know this resource. And then use it-- all of it including past years and both summer and year-end lists-- to make your own lists for your readers. Make displays [digital displays too], make suggested reading lists by genre, by year, by whatever you want. Just embrace the wealth of information available to you with one click and help readers in ways they would not think to help themselves.

Go check out this database of "sure bet" reads for any season, and keep it bookmarked for use anytime you need a solid suggestion [especially for those hard to satisfy readers]. 

And keep an eye out here on the blog for more "Attack of the Best Lists" posts coming as they are announced. And they will be coming  at a fast clip from today onward until the end of the year.

Becky and Stephen Graham Jones on Fated Mates Podcast

A few weeks ago, Stephen Graham Jones and I sat down with my old friend Jen Prokop and bestselling Romance author Sarah McLean to talk about Horror on their popular podcast Fated Mates. From their about page:

The most listened to romance novel podcast, Fated Mates is co-hosted by bestselling author Sarah MacLean and romance critic Jen Prokop. Weekly episodes include romance novel read-alongs and lively discussions of the work of the genre, highlighting the romance novel as a powerful tool in fighting the patriarchy…with absolutely no kink shaming.

Here is the page for our episode: 

S09.07: WHY HORROR WITH STEPHEN GRAHAM JONES AND BECKY SPRATFORD

We’re talking about the mythmakers again this week with a chat about romance’s sister genre, horror! We’re joined by NEA fellow, Bram Stoker Award winner and bestselling horror writer Stephen Graham Jones, and librarian and horror expert Becky Spratford. We talk about Stephen’s lifelong love of horror, the way horror reflects the world, the rules of horror and how romance and horror are actually two sides of the same coin. Happy spooky season, book lovers. 

If you’d like to come over and talk about horror with us, please join us on the Fated Mates Discord, where you’ll find a few thousand other listeners who love talking about these books we love. Join the Fated Mates patreon to get access, and You also get one extra episode a month from us!!

Click on the image to listen

Please click through to see a list of all of the books, television, and movies we mentioned in this episode. There are A LOT and they use graphics to showcase them, So click through. 

And if you scroll past those images you also get these AMAZING notes:

• We are joined by two guests today, horror author Stephen Graham Jones and librarian Becky Spratford. Stephen’s newest book is Off the Reservation. You might also enjoy the book Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature, which was edited by Becky and contains an essay by Stephen.
• I tried to find the article about the fish in the tanker trunk and failed, but looks like transporting fish via truck has other horrors to offer us.
• The Summer Scares Program is now part of iRead, a national summer reading program. Maybe you’d enjoy the Books in the Freezer podcast, a reference to this classic scene from Friends.
• What are: slashers, extreme horror, and cosmic horror.
• Jordan Peele, John Krasinski, and David Gordon Green are three men who moved from comedy to horror.
• Just like they create a best romance list every year, the librarians at the New York Public Library’s also publish a Best Horror List.
• Hitchcock on suspense vs surprise.
• Thanks to Becky for the realization that romance and horror are the two genres with their own holidays. [Becky's note: I gave Grady Hendrix full credit for this in the podcast] 

The four of us had a great time chatting and I really do think it is a great resource for all of you. Sarah and Jen were great interviewers. They truly cared about us explaining WHY HORROR to their Romance audience. This is NOT a discussion on Horroromance. Not at all. It is two people well versed in Horror talking to two people who are well versed in Romance, and sharing their knowledge to the benefit of ALL readers.

I hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed recording.